China attacks international court after South China Sea ruling
Beijing warns of possible military escalation after UN tribunal overwhelmingly rejects its claims to ownership of strategic waterway
Beijing has criticised an international court’s stinging rejection of its territorial claims in the South China Sea, with Communist party-controlled newspapers warning of a military escalation in response to what they denounced as a US ploy to thwart China’s rise.
One day after a UN tribunal ruled overwhelmingly against Chinese claims to huge swaths of the strategically important waterway, Beijing rebuffed the verdict, calling it “a piece of paper that is destined to come to naught”.
In a 13,900-word white paper, Beijing claimed the Philippines, which brought the case, had “distorted facts, misinterpreted laws and concocted a pack of lies” in order to undermine Chinese interests.
British hostage John Cantlie seen in Isis video for first time in four months
Photojournalist has longer hair and appears much thinner than in previous footage as he discusses the bombing of Mosul University
British photojournalist John Cantlie, who was captured by Isis in 2012 alongside American journalist James Foley, has appeared in a new video released by the terror group.
Mr Cantlie, who is widely thought to be speaking under duress in the videos in which he appears, was last seen on film in a propaganda video which emerged on 19 March this year in which he was shown mocking President Obama.
In the latest video, he has longer hair and appears much thinner than in previous footage as he discusses the bombing of Mosul University, attacking the UK media while standing alongside piles of rubble.
Tunisian father sets himself alight in protest against police
OBSERVERS
Imed Ghanmi, a 43-year-old doctoral student and, for lack of any other income, a street peddler, had his merchandise and motor scooter confiscated by the police on July 5 in El-Hancha, a village in the eastern region of Sfax. In protest, he set himself on fire inside the police station. He died of his injuries on Friday. His story recalls that of Mohamed Bouazizi, the street vendor whose act of desperation catalysed the Tunisian revolution in 2010.
Married with three children, Ghamni is described by those close to him as having had a brilliant mind. They note that he was finishing a thesis in mathematics; until August 2015, he was an instructor at the National Institute of Applied Science and Technology (INSAT) in Tunis, and was to defend his thesis in September of this year.
But his contract was not renewed. To cover his family's needs, he'd thus begun selling black market goods, notably cigarettes.
When his merchandise and scooter were seized, Ghanmi called his friend Jamak for help. Jamak is the last of those close to Ghanmi to have seen him before he decided to set himself on fire.
Amnesty: Hundreds 'disappeared' by Egyptian forces
Updated 0809 GMT (1609 HKT) July 13, 2016
"Officially, you do not exist." That's the alarming title of a new report published by Amnesty International alleging human rights violations occurring in Egypt.
Activists say people are being detained without access to family or a lawyer, and held incommunicado without formal charges or a trial. They call it "enforced disappearances," and in the first five months of 2016 alone, a suspected 630 of these have already been documented, Amnesty says.
That amounts to an average of four or five people each day since 2015, according to the group. Half of these may never resurface.
Why Austria wants to seize Hitler’s birthplace
The Austrian government hopes to seize a private home known to be Hitler's birthplace, sparking debate about destroying a relic of dark history versus using it for education.
The Austrian government has drafted a law that would dispossess the owner of the home where Adolf Hitler the born.
This is a new step in a back-and-forth between the Austrian government and the house owner Gerlinde Pommer, who has reportedly refused to sell the unoccupied building in the town of Braunau am Inn on the German border. The government wants to take ownership in order to prevent the site from becoming a place of homage for those who admire the Nazi dictator, the Associated Press reports.
Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck says the Parliament will vote on the law sometime this year. He did not specify plans for the property, but the discussion surrounding the house and its fate lands in the middle of a decades-long conversation about how to both deal with the legacy and artifacts of Nazi atrocities and ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.
Venezuelan army takes over food distribution services
Military put in charge of food distribution and key ports as country suffers from shortages of basic goods.
Venezuela's military has taken charge of food distribution and key ports to guarantee supplies of basic goods and medicines amid increasing shortages and mounting unrest.
President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday put his military in charge of five sea ports, giving his country's armed forces a major promotion as Venezuela struggles under a dire economic and political crisis.
"Today, we are taking five fundamental ports of the country: Guanta, La Guaira, Puerto Cabello, Maracaibo and Guamache," Maduro said on state television after meeting Vladimir Padrino Lopez, his defence minister general.
"Today, we are taking five fundamental ports of the country: Guanta, La Guaira, Puerto Cabello, Maracaibo and Guamache," Maduro said on state television after meeting Vladimir Padrino Lopez, his defence minister general.
The military will oversee production of food and medicine in "a great operation to fight the economic war", Maduro said.
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